


au•tom•a•ton

by theparadoxic



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: AU, Developing Relationship, Eventual Fluff, M/M, Romance, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-15
Updated: 2014-03-15
Packaged: 2018-01-15 20:39:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1318459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theparadoxic/pseuds/theparadoxic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For a machine, Gavin was a reject. But if he were honest, he wouldn’t trade his emotional gift for all the batteries in the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	au•tom•a•ton

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amongthieves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amongthieves/gifts).



> Based off a prompt from shaunhastings@tumblr. And thanks to Sam for actually not being a piece of shit, instead having faith in whatever kind of quality my unbeta'd work seemed to have blinded her sense of judgment.

The parts were still pretty intact, a little rusty on some corners but nothing that a little tinkering wouldn’t be able to fix. Ryan looked at it for the nth time that day with a triumphant grin on his face, a slight gleam of the automaton’s tan skin reflecting against the fluorescent of his little laboratory.

 

“Gavin,” was the machine’s name, that guy with curly hair and thick-rimmed glasses clearly enunciated after the payment was made. Of European race, active if needed be and unusually clever for his own good. “You sure you wanna take this in? Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you after he starts breaking your furniture,” were Burnie’s very promising words of caution to Ryan. Ryan was suspicious, naturally he was. Red flags up on the top of his head that he couldn’t just ignore, especially because he paid a reasonably good price to have Gavin – it was of sheer luck he even spotted the offer before anyone else, what were the odds?

 

“Can you actually be that awful for your owner to just throw you away after a couple of weeks?” Ryan asked Gavin, not really expecting an answer. He picked up a couple of nuts and bolts from the station and started looking through the flaws on Gavin’s back. “So many scratches for such a short period of use.” A slow shake of his head and he moved on evening the expanse of Gavin’s back. Christ almighty, the marks looked particularly violent.

 

Oblivious to the scientist, Gavin was paying a fair amount of attention to his new owner. His eyes, not at all blinking since he did not deem it necessary for circumstances as such, scrutinized Ryan’s form from every angle. Icy blue irises, a light patch of wavy hair, notable milky complexion covering his masculine physique – the wires and gears inside Gavin responded positively upon taking note of these qualities. Although in comparison Gavin was pretty sure Burnie was still a ton – a mile apart, even – more compatible for his taste.

 

Burnie was everything Gavin ever wanted. (As far as an automaton wanted to live his life, that is.) Burnie was clever, he was funny and he was successful. Gavin found it a convenience to settle in the presence of a master who knew what he wanted, one who didn’t take too long to fumble around and think about every step of the way. One who just knew.

 

Given, having sex with Burnie was quite an experience. Gavin had no complaints – it was his sole purpose, after all, to give pleasure and to serve his master. And Burnie, the proactive man he was, constantly kept things interesting for them. Burnie made sex – something Gavin initially thought was raw and cannibalistic – more than just a physical interconnection.

 

Of course, not that Gavin needed preludes to enjoy having Burnie’s dick inside him. That wasn’t a step he found important to serve his purpose under Burnie’s roof.

 

But for some reason, Burnie incorporated a lot of unnecessary concern for him during the short time they were fucking.

 

Which was confusing for Gavin because, well, he wasn’t exactly programmed to _feel_ any emotion aside from sexual satisfaction; there was not a part of him designed to receive and understand what it meant to care for other people and to have other people care for him. And yet, over the course of 10 days, being fucked senseless by Burnie did exactly just that – it made him a little bit more human every single day, especially on days when Burnie woke up smiling at him, asking him, albeit with a lace of sarcasm, if he wanted to have breakfast.

 

That one particular moment Gavin felt warmth color his naturally cold metal cheeks, he just started going on overdrive. It was pure chaos from then on – things inside the house went flying, a lot of yelling against the walls and intercourse was practically nonexistent.

 

Gavin knew Burnie intentionally did not inform Ryan that he was a sexual automaton; the scientist bought Gavin entirely for technical purposes and Burnie told him he should, “behave,” from then on. By now he’s understood quite enough of why Burnie wanted to let him go and despite the fact that Gavin absolutely fucking hated everything about it, he couldn’t do anything as well. It was either this Ryan dude took him away or Gavin would end up as scrap metal at the local junk shop.

 

It was interesting how Burnie advised him to behave though, for Gavin was sure – as sure as he will ever be – that there was no fucking way he’ll get over Burnie. Did Burnie think a new owner would turn Gavin and convince him to stop thinking about Burnie again? Gavin wanted to laugh at how ridiculous a consideration that was, but then he remembered Ryan was still scrubbing some solutions on his scratches, and it would be unusual if Gavin had just suddenly started chuckling on his own. The least he wanted was to raise suspicions so early in the game.

 

“Right.” Ryan heaved out a sigh and approached the sink. Gavin was staring at him. Blankly. “Not that it was necessary for you to be spotless to actually help me do my work here but,” some unintelligible noises and he shrugged, “you know. It would be a waste if I didn’t clean you up.”

 

Concern. That was what Gavin categorized as ‘concern’ and it was familiar because Burnie used to say similar things to him – except he was comfortable with Burnie, and Ryan? Let’s just say he didn’t exactly have any grounds to trust that Ryan will not completely disassemble him upon changing his batteries.

 

“Okay.” Ryan began again, a smile evident on his face. He walked past Gavin and grabbed a coat from the nearby rack. “You should put this on. I wouldn’t want to clean you up all over again.”

 

Gavin extended a stiff arm. As he was about to take the coat for himself however, Ryan started slipping a sleeve into him, moving around and helping Gavin put it on instead. In the deepest depths of Gavin he identified it as another act of concern but admittedly, he wasn’t entirely sure. He chose to ignore it, knowing that if he analyzed too much it would just lead to very bad things.

 

For an untraceable number of hours Ryan worked on circuits and old computers, stating things about how he had to come up with a generator-type of device using unconventional parts. Gavin pretended to know what the man was talking about, occasionally nodding here and there, handing him tools he needed and not offering any reactions whenever Ryan made small talk, or even blurt out very intellectual jokes at random intervals. In all honesty, Gavin wasn’t at all smart enough to understand what Ryan was saying half the time but Ryan never seemed to notice so Gavin just carried the situation as it was.

 

And not surprisingly, they have not spoken more than 3 words even after 5 days of working together. Gavin didn’t mind, heck, it was a perfect setup for him. It gave him more room to think about how he can go to Burnie’s house without Ryan noticing.

 

That was, of course, until one night Ryan said he wasn’t going to work on anything.

 

Instead, Ryan asked Gavin to play some video games with him in the living room. An offer that Gavin has never heard from Burnie before, and something he couldn’t find in him to deny too.

 

“I still don’t understand why Burnie would just scrap you like that.” Ryan’s hands fumbled with the controller. They were in their 3rd game of Call of Duty, and Ryan took note that Gavin was thinking about something after that statement. Ryan knew Gavin was always listening to him despite the lack of responses he received on a daily basis. An almost invisible smirk along his lips, “You seem perfect enough for me.”

 

The controller suddenly slipped from Gavin’s hands. Exactly why, Gavin didn’t know. The wires inside his processor seem to have stopped working upon hearing that sentence.

 

“You alright?” Ryan picked the controller up and handed it to Gavin, who swiftly faced him. Suddenly it was all blue against green, and it was the first time Ryan took note of Gavin’s facial features. Indeed, he was based off of European blood. “Here,” gently he repeated as Gavin snatched it from him. “Do you want to play one more round?”

 

“Whatever.” Gavin flatly replied, his accent thick. He could hear the delight in Ryan’s affirmative reply, and Gavin didn’t really show it but. Well. He just couldn’t admit his wires started going loopy after seeing Ryan laugh, could he?

 

After all, Gavin could feel. But he couldn’t understand.

 

At least, not yet.

 

~ ~ ~

 

“Could you pass me that box over there?” Ryan said one morning. The rustle from the other side of the workbench rung against his eardrums, and soon enough Gavin was giving him something from his peripheral vision. “Thank you,” he murmured as Gavin stood right next to him.

 

After about 20 minutes, Gavin realized that Ryan did not have any use of him in the laboratory, seeing as how focused the man was on his machine. Ryan wasn’t paying attention to him and for the first time – for the first time in 2 weeks, Gavin actually found it annoying to not have Ryan acknowledge his existence. He did not know why although he couldn’t deny the fact that such a thing happened with Burnie before, on days when Burnie was simply consumed by his work.

 

Gavin looked around, tried to ignore the buzzing that started to sort of echo from within his chest. It was particularly hot that day in the laboratory, even with the air conditioning on full blast – bloody summer never bothered Gavin before, he was indifferent to temperatures unless it was from human contact, then that was an entirely different thing.

 

Twenty soon turned into 65, and 65 into 2 hours. Gavin was growing impatient like never before. Not even Burnie was this busy, for fuck’s sake. He’s been pacing back and forth the room for the past few minutes, he’s gone through scraps by the warehouse, sorted his internal memory and oiled his joints – yet still. Still this fucking dude was working on his machine. Gavin distinctly heard the noises in his chest echo louder every minute, and by the time it started to really scratch against the walls, Ryan finally looked up at him.

 

Gavin has never felt such a relief wash through him – he never knew relief could feel unbelievably beyond good.

 

“What’s that noise?” Ryan slid his goggles up his head and looked at Gavin with a hint of panic in his eyes. “Anything wrong?”

 

Against Gavin’s own will, he did not express the relief he just felt when Ryan paid him attention again. Instead, Gavin found himself frowning and shaking his head at Ryan, mumbling a sharp, “Nothing.”

 

Ryan looked at him with an expression that was torn between amusement and frustration, “Clearly something’s bothering you, Gavin.”

 

Gavin huffed out a long, aggravated breath before turning his back on Ryan. His feet, almost as if with a life of its own, ended up leading him to what he gathered was Ryan’s bedroom. He closed the door shut, only long enough to hear Ryan from the hallway, “What’s going on with you?”

 

To Ryan’s dismay, Gavin’s sulking continued for days. It was so frustrating on Ryan’s part because laboratory work has gotten slower than he originally thought it would, especially after having an automaton like Gavin to help him. No. How ironic that now, instead of having more time to work because Gavin could assist him, Ryan’s having less and less time being able to concentrate. Never in his life has he ever considered the possibility of having to deal with a robot having emotional complications under his care.

 

He called Burnie on the 3rd day, no doubt hearing a sigh from Burnie that went with, “I told you he had some defects.” Ryan was at his last string. And Burnie wouldn’t offer him any explanations as to why Gavin was being a little bitch about everything when in the first place, he wasn’t supposed to be socially sound.

 

It was on the 5th day that Ryan hinted to Burnie over the phone that he cannot afford a liability in the middle of his research; that was all it took for Burnie to spill all the details to him. Burnie told him everything – from what exactly Gavin was to how Burnie ended up discarding the automaton. And boy, to say that Ryan was shocked would be an absolute understatement.

 

~ ~ ~

 

“Please don’t fix it! Please don’t fix me! I like that part of me!” Gavin bellowed as Ryan approached him with a screwdriver in hand. He knew what Ryan was going to do to him, after hearing countless nights of Ryan discussing his robotic flaws with Burnie, and skimming through the search history on his computer. Gavin knew Ryan was going to bust him open and just take everything out – dismantle him, make every arrangement of pieces in him be of Ryan’s liking. The mere thought of it alone, of waking up as nothing more than a cold unfeeling machine, somehow made Gavin wish he could just combust into obsolescence.

 

“Gavin, I _have_ to fix you. I’m sorry.” Ryan slowly took steps forward, careful as to not scare the robot any further. He sighed upon Gavin’s attempt to run past him, which ended up with Gavin – despite the fact that he was significantly sturdier – landing on his behind after colliding with Ryan’s chest. Ryan looked down at him, a bit sympathetic, “Please, Gavin. You’ve been sulky for the past week too, I just want to make everything better for the both of us.”

 

Gavin sat still on the carpet, his face suddenly sad and vulnerable. Ryan knelt in front of him, tilted his head to catch a better glimpse. “Gavin?” He sighed when Gavin refused to look up. A hand caressing Gavin’s cold face and Ryan made them lock gazes, “I’m sorry. It’s just—” Were those…

 

Tears?

 

Gavin, an entity composed of wires and chips and nuts and bolts, was actually crying?

 

“Holy shit,” was the only coherent thing Ryan could say.

 

Gavin only stared at him. He wasn’t sure what was happening, and he couldn’t feel anything aside from the fact that the gears inside his chest are having a rather difficult time to whir accordingly. Ryan seem to have dropped the tools, for both his hands were on his cheeks and Ryan was looking at him so intensely, Gavin felt the familiar warmth climb up his face.

 

Oh god. That very same thing that happened with Burnie.

 

He then retracted his face – which stopped crying by then – from Ryan. In his attempt to run away, Ryan pulled him rather harshly. “Stay here.” Within a few seconds, they were facing each other again, their eyes locked and Ryan touching Gavin almost everywhere. When Gavin began to squirm, Ryan only demanded, “Just stay still, I’m trying to figure something out.” Because obviously there either had to be an actual person inside the thing, or a water source was programmed so subtly in the contraption – Ryan had to know.

 

Ryan kept touching him. In places that Gavin knew he was programmed to be set off when touched. But Ryan wasn’t aware of that and even if he were, then he obviously didn’t care.

 

The automatic responses of his body were all activated after an embarrassingly short period of time. Ryan seemed to still be unaware of it. Gavin was all hard, heated and ready in so many different places, and he was stuck there on the carpet at half an arm’s length with Ryan, who kept on trying to investigate some parts of his robotic anatomy. Needless to say, Gavin wasn’t comfortable nor was he happy in any aspect possible.

 

When one of Ryan’s hands accidentally brushed past Gavin’s erect crotch, the older man froze. Very cautiously he looked down to what he just hit, and when he saw it, he looked at Gavin with wide eyes. “When did that happen…”

 

Ryan was close – so dangerously close. The kind of close that Gavin’s processing unit considered an offer for physical contact. How the fuck he was able to just sit there and not touch himself – touch Ryan – was beyond his internal memory.

 

Tensions mounted in tenfold when Ryan didn’t remove his hand off of Gavin’s erection. It stayed there, as if it finally found what it’s been looking for after such a long time, and Gavin’s chest started making those buzzing noises again. Something that, upon recollection of memories, didn’t happen until halfway the number of times he and Burnie have done the deed.

 

“Don’t have any weird thoughts.” The baritone whisper ran perfectly through Gavin’s ears, followed by a rather gentle push by a large hand, “This is just for science, you understand?”

 

Gavin hummed in agreement and before he knew it, Ryan was touching him and rubbing against him. And woah, was that a rod or did a notable girth just brush past his erection?

 

It didn’t take long for Ryan to rid of their garments, hands tracing every inch of visible surface. Gavin started to collect a fair amount of adrenaline in his system and to Ryan’s surprise, Gavin flipped their positions over, with Ryan flat on his sweaty back.

 

The carpet wasn’t the most pleasant of all surfaces, Ryan noted, but honestly he couldn’t be fucking bothered with that. Not when Gavin started moaning like an absolute slut just from Ryan stroking him once. And the dirty noises that seemed to be music in Ryan’s ears after that were just enough to make Ryan want to turn him over and pound into his ass.

 

But Gavin, being the one programmed for these kinds of activities, moved a little closer to Ryan’s ears and said, “Just stay still. I’ll show you what science really is.” And Gavin was slow, so painfully slow that Ryan had to contain himself and just be patient. Gavin seemed to enjoy taking his time, slowly crawling south until his face was right next to the man’s hard cock. “This is lovely, Ryan.”

 

Ryan wasn’t able to make a snarky remark like he normally would. How could he? When Gavin was expertly blowing him, giving his dick one of the best things it hasn’t had in a while. Fuck, Ryan has been so consumed with his work that he almost forgot how amazing it actually felt to have something else than a hand massage his erection. And sure, Gavin might not have the same warmth of a human mouth but good riddance he wasn’t going to complain about this – not when Gavin did not have a gag reflex of a human mouth, hence effortlessly deep throating his dick like it was the easiest fucking thing to do in the world.

 

For some amazing reason, Gavin seemed to also have been programmed to tell when somebody is about to cream his face. Because the next thing Ryan knew, Gavin was straddling him, taking his dick in his hand and once again, like the expert that he was supposed to be, sat on him in one easy swoop. Ryan didn’t know what it was about Gavin’s lubed, tight hole that made it feel like a human being’s instead of a robot’s, but frankly his mind was too hazed with lust to actually bother.

 

It was better to enjoy how Gavin bounced up and down on his dick than worry about his mechanical components. And if Ryan only knew a little bit earlier that sex automata could feel like an actual human being’s opening, he would have considered fucking one a long time ago.

 

“You’re close.” Gavin slowly hissed, moans still somehow echoing from him. He watched as Ryan desperately look at him with what’s left of his concentration, and then Gavin smiled wickedly before picking up a very hard pace. Satisfaction swam through Gavin’s system, like how Ryan’s load swam into his opening. Gavin only smiled once again; took Ryan long enough.

 

Ryan gathered his remaining stamina and sat up with his elbows’ support. His panting was violent, body still obviously going through a sated phase, as he moved closer to Gavin’s smug face and pressed their lips together. A sharp intake of breath came from the other boy and when Ryan pulled back he casually smiled, “For science.”

 

Gavin only stared at Ryan, unable to process what that linking of mouths meant. It was something that Burnie’s never done before; it was an entirely new experience, and Gavin wondered whether it was a natural reaction to get hard all over again after what Ryan did.

 

~ ~ ~

 

Ryan ended up deciding it was better to not reprogram Gavin.

 

“Because you like having sex with me.” Gavin speculated, to which Ryan said ‘no’ upon hearing. “Are you sure?” Gavin asked again, his tone consistently flat, until finally Ryan sighed and admitted it was exactly because of the sex.

 

Gavin didn’t mind. He didn’t mind having sex with Ryan at any time of the day, whenever Ryan felt like it. Mostly though, it happened at night, when Ryan was spent from all the work both in the office and in his own little laboratory. On most nights Ryan would just casually approach Gavin by the bed and Gavin would instantly know. It took merely a touch on the arm for Gavin to start reacting accordingly, and not once could Ryan say that he’s been disappointed by it.

 

One particular night racked Gavin’s wires, however.

 

It was when Ryan approached him after an awful Tuesday, “Gavin,” he sighed as he slid his hands around Gavin’s waist.

 

“Okay,” the boy simply said, all knowing of what Ryan wanted. When Ryan didn’t let go however, he was left speechless. Confused, actually. “Why aren’t you taking your clothes off yet?”

 

“It's been a long day. This is all I wanna do tonight.” Hands were perfectly wrapped around Gavin’s frame, Ryan’s head resting on his crown. Ryan was gently and very slightly swinging their entwined bodies from left to right. It soothed the mood, Ryan thought.

 

Gavin hadn’t a clue what Ryan was referring to. “What is this? We’re not doing anything.”

 

“I just want to hold you close tonight.”

 

And there. There it was again: that weird buzzing noise inside Gavin’s chest. Only this time it wasn’t as loud as when he got angry (that’s what Ryan called it) in the laboratory nor when he got an arousal because of Ryan for the first time. This buzzing noise was unexpectedly gentler, a little more subtle, just barely above a whisper that if it were any louder it would be deafening. And almost like an instinctive response, Gavin also found himself encircling Ryan’s form with his own arms. He heard Ryan chuckle upon feeling the contact, and the buzzing in his chest doubled its speed from that alone. Gavin wondered why; he wanted to know what triggered the buzzing and what it all meant.

 

He was curious all throughout the following day, unable to concentrate on Ryan’s instructions. He was curious when Ryan said he should go with him to the stores downtown, have a little field trip. He was curious when the buzzing seemed to happen more often – when Ryan took his hand as they walked down a quiet park, especially when Ryan told him that night that he wanted to “make love” to him – a term he had to search on the Internet after Ryan fell asleep because it wasn’t a phrase Burnie’s ever used to indicate they were going to have sex. (And of course, the results differentiating ‘having sex’ and ‘making love’ made Gavin’s eyes wider than the size of his disk drives.)

 

Gavin was curious, so curious in fact that it reached a point that Ryan could actually spot the transparency on his usually robotic face.

 

“Anything wrong?” Ryan asked while they were playing a game. “You can’t seem to concentrate.” They were sitting particularly closer than they did when they first played together; it was amazing what a span of a some weeks could do to a relationship.

 

“I’m concentrating.” The answer was obviously defensive, octaves higher than Gavin would normally speak in. “I’m alright, Ryan.”

 

Ryan scoffed, “No, you’re not.” But he didn’t push forth. He didn’t want to force Gavin to tell him anything he didn’t want to tell – Ryan simply didn’t think it was fair to do that, in general. So he let it go when Gavin spoke no further. The game on the screen was much more interesting by then, anyway. It was best to stop the mindless questioning.

 

What he did question however, was the fact that Gavin has been initiating more and more intercourse to take place between them. Ryan was fine with that – more than fine, actually – but he didn’t quite catch the reason as to why Gavin would suddenly start acting weird after sex. One time Ryan swore Gavin locked himself in the bathroom not to clean up but simply because he wanted to cry. It was getting more and more bizarre for Ryan, for someone so tough and someone literally so immune to the ‘strings attached’ phenomena act like a lovesick teenager.

 

Gavin was naturally stubborn when Ryan asked what the matter was. But Ryan figured it wasn’t fair to just let it go since he’s actually the reason as to why Gavin was seemingly getting more and more miserable after sex, so he forced an answer out of the other until Gavin’s frustrated answer made everything click: “Look, I’m programmed to _react_ to sexual advances. I’m not supposed to _initiate_ them; the moment I did that with Burnie he immediately noted something was wrong. And then he discarded me.”

 

The underlying, “I have been initiating sex with you for the past couple of weeks now,” remained unsaid but it was safe to say that Ryan understood the implication.

 

The amount of fear in Gavin’s eyes was abundant after the confession, and it terrified Ryan to no end. When did Gavin’s limited emotional scale become a full-blown palette? In the past couple of weeks (has it been months, Ryan couldn’t really tell anymore) Gavin has been a roller coaster of joy, euphoria and agitation around Ryan.

 

Under normal circumstances, somebody beating around the bush like that would have burnt Ryan’s last wick. But with Gavin, it somehow seemed different.

 

Instead of flaunting that he had enough grounds to express his impatience with Gavin, Ryan was nothing less than a walking container of sheer fascination. “Maybe this is the scientific nerd in me talking,” successfully he grabbed Gavin’s attention, “or maybe I’m just really terrible when dealing with others' emotional dilemmas but…” Gavin looked at him with utter curiosity, “I think it’s amazing that you’ve gotten this far.”

 

“What are you babbling about?” There was a crease in the middle of Gavin’s eyebrows. “I’m so confused about everything happening to me and you’re standing there in admiration? I don’t smegging understand it! Are you sure _you_ aren’t the automaton here?” 

 

Ryan’s chuckles bounced off the walls and he had nothing else in mind but to pull Gavin close to him. When Gavin’s head was safely tucked in the valley of his neck, Ryan spoke, “This. I’m amazed that you’ve managed to speak to me with such volume – such variety of emotions.” He sighed contentedly when Gavin did not make a move to glare at him nor verbally retaliate. “I honestly thought that the emotional glitch I had to fix was either going to stay as it were and not cause any further problems, or simply go away, with enough fingers to cross. But you know what?”

 

Ryan backed away just enough to look at Gavin in the eyes – it was blue against green all over again, except this time it was all knowing and comfortable and buzzing feelings blurring everything else around them. Gavin blinked, anticipated Ryan’s next words as his chest started to make weird noises again.

 

“This turned out so much better than I hoped it would.” Ryan planted his lips on Gavin’s and upon feeling the response from the other, he whispered, “I stand myself corrected: you aren’t a liability. Not at all.”

 

When Gavin, seemingly for the first time ever, let out what sounded like an enamored giggle, Ryan did not hesitate to press their mouths close again.

 

And it was then and there that Gavin realized, that buzzing noise his chest kept making all the time?

 

Probably his insides telling him to stay with Ryan. As long as he _felt_ it appropriate to do so.


End file.
